Understanding the value of an MBA by exploring the perspectives MBA students and graduates have of their MBA: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Abstract

This thesis explores Master of Business Administration (MBA) candidates’ and Alumni perspectives of the value of an MBA degree, seeking a holistic understanding of the reasons why they chose to pursue their MBA, what they expected and gained from it. Business education has long been seen as a medium to facilitate strategic change within and across industries. Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs are often regarded as the most preferred programs for organisational leaders and managers. Although an MBA education offers the opportunity to study a functional area in depth, a cross-disciplinary literature review identified an over emphasis on teaching the Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Competencies (KSACs) and a lack of focus on the role of MBA candidates’ value systems that apparently influence their learning of the taught KSACs and likely impact their work behaviour and ethical decision-making ability. This study drew from Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), with fourteen individuals from one university’s MBA sharing their experiences in a series of semi-structured interviews. These were supported by participant observation of formal classes, providing further insights into the learning environment. This research design helped make sense of the ways MBA students interact with each other and their lecturers. Although following the idiographic ideal of IPA, the analysis also utilised imagined, integrated dialogues to analyse and present both their stories and researcher interpretations of those stories. These dialogues situate the research participants in a fictional setting to bring both individual and collective worlds to the surface. This seeks to connect readers to the worlds of these fourteen participants, the way they view them individually and researcher interpretations of their worlds, in line with IPA’s double hermeneutic. This helps explain why the participants chose to pursue an MBA, what they expected from it, what they experienced in this learning journey and how their ‘mindsets’ changed throughout their studies. Using this integrated dialogical method to present the research findings shows how qualitative research can be fictionalised and reflexively framed in a novel and illuminating manner. By situating different participants’ views together in a theme-based dialogue, this thesis discovers and discusses phenomena that the participants experienced and defined during their MBA journey. The application of additional interpretative techniques, such as the integrated dialogical method, contributes to a richer interpretation of phenomena in qualitative research, making a significant contribution to the methodology literature. The discussion of the findings suggests that the participants went through a significant change in their pre-MBA ‘mindset’ during their studies. The findings shed light on how and why some participants may seem to pursue an MBA at the wrong time in their career, how their study could make them feel too psychologically safe, potentially causing psychological unsafety at work, and how participants could identify their MBA as a means to an end or an end in itself. The findings also revealed how MBA courses are often taught in isolation, handicapping participants from the inter-course (or intra-program) application of theoretical concepts. This can serve as a block to participants making use of their learning in one course to understand the concepts taught in others. This further restricts participants from making connections between different facets of their work, falling short of making holistic use of their KSACs. Besides, the thesis suggests that networking, lectures’ teaching methodology and trust in practitioner-lecturers were the three most vital aspects contributing to the value of an MBA for the participants. The thesis concludes that the MBA - the notion that all MBAs are same and MBA programs that business schools offer, offers clear and consistent learning experiences and outcomes, is problematic and, to no small extent, incorrect. Arguably, every MBA candidate and their learning experience is unique. Thus, the thesis shifts the focus onto each participant’s value system and how it interacts with their work environment more than the KSACs they gain in their MBA. However, it cautions that if employers continue to share narrower, homogeneous, and stereotypical views of MBA programs and their occupational value, the disconnect in relative expectations of MBA outcomes is likely to continue.